All posts tagged Garden of the Laurels

The sleepy, medieval Italian village of Citta della Pieve may seem an unlikely place for experimental performance art and sculptures with titles like “Bin Ladin Youth” — a work made up of cinder blocks with a meat cleaver through them and a T-shirt that says “New York F—ing City.”

They’re part of the 300-piece collection of Angela and Massimo Lauro, the nephewgrandson of an Italian shipping magnate. The couple are the latest in a wave of wealthy art enthusiasts to turn their private collections into a museum open to the public (a couple days a week, at least). Il Giardini dei Lauri, or Garden of the Laurels, opens Sunday.

“The museum started slowly,” says Mr. Lauro. “I began a little bit shy because I thought it was a little pretentious to make a museum.” The focus is on art made in the 1990s or later, most by artists who are under the age of 40. The provocative Bin Ladin piece is by Dash Snow, the buzzed about 27-year-old downtown New York photographer who died this summer of a drug overdose. There are also pieces from pop artist Takashi Murakami and a bread house sculpture by Urs Fischer that the couple purchased in 2004 (many in the art world are hailing Fischer as the next Jeff Koons). Read More »

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